>Chaipau: /* Introduction of Indo-Aryan */ written in Sanskrit

2021-08-05T11:25:06Z

Introduction of Indo-Aryan: written in Sanskrit

New page

{{EngvarB|date=September 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Kamarupa}}
{{Indo-European topics}}

[[Indo-Aryan peoples|People speaking Indo-Aryan languages]] first migrated to [[Assam]] (and the rest of [[Northeast India]]) in approximately the fifth century BCE.<ref name="Taher 2011 12">"From about the fifth century before Christ, there started a trickle of migration of the people speaking Indo-Aryan language from the Gangetic plain." {{harv|Taher|2011|p=12}}</ref> They came from the [[Gangetic Plains]] into a region already inhabited by people who spoke [[Austroasiatic]] and [[Tibeto-Burman]] languages.<ref name="Taher 2001 12">"The first group of migrants to settle in this part of the country is perhaps the Austro-Asiatic language speaking people who came here from South-East Asia a few millennia before Christ. The second group of migrants came to Assam from the north, north-east and east. They are mostly the Tibeto-Burman language speaking people. From about the fifth century before Christ, there started a trickle of migration of the people speaking Indo-Aryan language from the Gangetic plain." {{harv|Taher|2001|p=12}}</ref><ref>"[That Assamese has an Austroasiatic substratum] is consistent with the general assumption that the lower Brahmaputra drainage was originally Austroasiatic speaking. It also implies the existence of a substantial Austroasiatic speaking population till the time of spread of Aryan culture into Assam, i.e. it implies that up until the 4th-5th centuries CE and probably much later Tibeto-Burman languages had not completely supplanted Austroasiatic languages." {{harvcol|DeLancey|2012|p=13}}</ref>

==Pre-Indo-Aryan Assam==
The 8th- to 6th-century BCE text, [[Shatapatha Brahmana]], describes the [[Sanskritization]] of [[East India]] up to the [[Karatoya river]], the western boundary of the historic [[Kamarupa kingdom]].<ref>{{harv|Puri|1968|p=7}}</ref> Though the ''Sankhyayana Grihasamgraha'' is said to mention 'Pragjyotisha' as the land of sunrise,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Assam's history and its graphics |last=Pathak |first=Guptajit |year=2008 |pages=39}}</ref> this has been shown to be a wrong attribution.<ref>"Another text called ''Samkhyanagrihasamgrahasutra'' where a passage is wrongly supposed to refer to the land of Pragjyotisha is seen to suggest the earliest Brahmana settlement in Assam. M.M. Sarma has rightly pointed out that the word 'Pragjyotisha' in the sutra means 'before the appearance of any light and it has no relation with the country Pragjyotisha'." {{harvcol|Boruah|2008|p=167}}</ref> Archaeologically too, the [[Northern Black Polished Ware]], a pottery style associated with the development of the first large states in Northern India, reached the Karatoya only by the 2nd century BCE.<ref name="Guha 1984 75">{{harv|Guha|1984|p=75}}</ref> Therefore, it is claimed that the spread of Indo-Aryans into Assam cannot be pushed beyond the 5th century BCE.<ref>"...Indo-Aryans had not spread out as far as to Assam before 500 BCE, at least not in mentionable number." {{harv|Guha|1984|p=74}}</ref>

It is also significant that neither early Buddhist sources,<ref name="Guha 1984 75"/> nor [[Ashoka]]n epigraphs<ref>{{harv|Puri|1968|p=4}}</ref> (3rd century BCE with the capital in East India) mention the Assam region. The ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'' (1st century CE) and Ptolemy's ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]'' (2nd century CE) refer to the region that included Assam as Kirrhadia, after the [[Kirata]] people (pre-Indo-Aryan), who were also the sources of the goods that were being traded.<ref>"...appear to call the land including Assam Kirrhadia after the Kirata population." {{harv|Sircar|1990|pp=60-61}}</ref> A reference to Lauhitya in [[Kautilya]]'s ''[[Arthashastra]]'' is identified by commentators with the [[Brahmaputra Valley]],<ref>"If we go by Bhattaswamin's commentary on ''Arthashastra'' Magadha was already importing certain items of trade from this Valley in Kautilya's days" {{harv|Guha|1984|p=76}}</ref> though the ''Arthashastra'' in its current form is dated to the early centuries of CE, and the commentaries to even later.<ref>"...the Arthashastra in its present form has to be assigned to the early centuries of the Christian era and the commentaries to much later dates." {{harv|Sircar|1990|p=61}}</ref>

It appears that the Assam region became a ''punya bhumi'', a region that did not require a Hindu purification ceremony, by the post Gupta period (320-550 CE).<ref>"The name of Pragjyotisha has been traced in a passage of ''Sankhyana Grihya-samgraha''which mentions it in connection with a ''vrata'' rite and speaks of the country as a ''punya-desha'' or holy land. However the popularity of the vrata rites and the holy character ascribed to the land appear to suggest a post Gupta period." {{harv|Sircar|1990|p=61}}</ref>

==Introduction of Indo-Aryan==
The earliest historical mention of this region in Indo-Aryan comes from [[Allahabad pillar|Samudragupta's Allahabad inscription]], where two kingdoms from the region—[[Kamarupa]] and [[Davaka]]—are mentioned.<ref>{{harv|Sircar|1990|p=59}}</ref> The earliest evidence of Indo-Aryan in Assam are the 5th-century [[Umachal rock inscription|Umachal]] and [[Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscription|Nagajari-Khanikargaon]] rock inscriptions written in Sanskrit.<ref>{{harv|Sharma|1978|p=305}} While Umachal inscription stands as an index to the spread of the Aryan culture up to the [[Gauhati]] area and the Barganga inscription speaks of the spread of the Aryan culture up to the [[Dabaka]] area, the present inscription stands as an unquestionable testimony to the spread of the Aryan culture up to the [[sarupathar]] area of upper Assam as early as in the early part of the 5th century A.D.</ref>

===Brahman settlements===
Two inscriptions of [[Bhaskaravarman]] (600-650 CE) on copper plates are re-issues of grants to Brahmins to settle in parts of the Kamarupa kingdom during the reign of Bhutivarman (518-542).<ref>"...the Doobi plates ... record the grant originally made by Bhutivarman in favor of two Brahmanas of the Ghosha family..." {{harv|Sircar|1990b|p=103}}</ref> This policy, of the local kings settling Brahmans from other places in the kingdom, was a common policy of all Kamarupa kings that gave rise to pockets of Brahmanic influence.<ref>"Inscriptions show that from the 5th century A.D. onwards the granting of lands to Brahmanas in different parts of the region became a common practice for the rulers of early Assam. These settlements emerged as the pockets of Brahmanic influence." {{harv|Baruah|2008|p=167}}</ref> From the inscriptions it can be made out that the Brahman donees came to Assam from present-day Bangladesh, Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.<ref>"The genealogies of these Brahman donees also incidentally refer to their places of origin, like Pundra, Sravasthi, Varendri, Madhyadesha i.e. areas of present day Bangladesh, Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh." {{harv|Das|2005|p=227}}</ref> Indo-Aryan presence and influence became significant by the 7th century.<ref name="Puri 1968 6">{{harv|Puri|1968|p=6}}</ref> Whereas the early grants had natural boundaries such as trees or water, those from the later Pala rulers (10-11th century), increasingly bordered on other granted lands,<ref>"While demarcating the boundaries of these ''agrahara'' grants initially only natural boundaries like water bodies, trees, and the like are mentioned, but in the inscriptions of the Pala dynasty, they increasingly bordered on other ''sasanas'' , i.e. land donated by a royal decree." {{harv|Das|2005|p=228}}</ref> thereby indicating that the pockets of Indo-Aryan settlements were becoming contiguous. Nevertheless, the process of Sanskritization was never complete in Assam, and significant sections remained outside Brahmanic influence.<ref>"It is well known that till recent times some of the major tribes of Assam have remained beyond the pale of Sanskritization and some of them are still maintaining their own cultural traits. Therefore, it would be not tenable, if we identify the whole Brahmaputra valley and its adjoining areas as the region influenced by the Brahmanical faiths (as projected by some scholars)." {{harv|Baruah|2008|p=168}}</ref>

===Languages===
The subsequent [[Kamarupa inscriptions]], written in Sanskrit, suggest that a majority of the Indo-Aryan immigrants spoke [[Kamarupi Prakrit]] the precursor of [[Assamese language]] and the [[Proto-Kamata]]; and that the learned few knew [[Sanskrit]].<ref>"... (it shows) that in Ancient Assam there were three languages viz. (1) Sanskrit as the official language and the language of the learned few, (2) Non-Aryan tribal languages of the Austric and Tibeto-Burman families, and (3) a local variety of Prakrit (ie a MIA) wherefrom, in course of time, the modern Assamese language as a MIL, emerged." {{harv|Sharma|1978|pp=0.24-0.28}}</ref> Sanskrit was the liturgical language of [[Hinduism]] and the state language of Kamarupa; and Assamese became a link language, accepted as a second language by some of the aboriginal peoples; over time, it became the first language for many. In return, Assamese acquired linguistic features of the native speakers.<ref>"Large scale diffusion of linguistic innovations has been taking place between Asamiya, the Sino-Tibetan languages and Khasi in this area for a very long time {{harv|Moral|1997|p=44}}</ref> The writing shows an evolution from the early [[Gupta script]] towards modern [[Eastern Nagari script|Assamese script]].<ref>{{Harv|Lahiri|1991|pp=58-59}}</ref> The latest examples, such as the Kanai-boroxiboa inscription, use a proto-Assamese script.<ref>{{Harv|Lahiri|1991|pp=57-58}}</ref><ref name="N.R. Sharma, 1994, Page 3">N.R. Sharma, ''The Kāmarūpa School of Dharmaśāstra'', 1994, Page 3 Moreover, the discovery of the copper plate-inscriptions issued by different kings of ancient Assam (Kamarupa) at different times brings to light the Aryan colour of the cultural heritage of Assam.</ref>

The Magadha empire was founded by [[Bimbisara]] in the 4th century BCE. About this time, or after, the whole of northern Bengal, to the south of the [[Jalpaiguri]] district and west of the Trisrota, was absorbed in the [[Maurya empire]] together with the [[Tamralipti]] region in the south west. The Mauryan empire of [[Ashoka]] undoubtedly included northern Bengal between the [[Teesta]] ([[Karatoya]]) and the [[Koshi River|Kosi]] rivers, for within this area stupas erected by Ashoka were found by [[Xuanzang]] in the 7th century CE. This area continued to be included in the Magadha empire at least till the 6th century CE. During the rule of the Imperial Guptas it was known as [[Pundravardhana]], whose inhabitants then generally spoke non-Aryan languages.

To the east and north of Pundravardhana, Kamarupa continued as an independent kingdom, ruled over by an indigenous line of kings who traced descent from heroes named in the epics as Naraka, [[Bhagadatta]] and [[Vajradatta]].<ref name=Early_History_of_Kamarupa,p.I >Early_History_of_Kamarupa,p.I</ref> Indo-Aryan accounts of the region between 500 BCE and 4th century CE come from the revised [[Mahabharata]] and [[Purana]]s (from the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century CE), and the c. 10th-century [[Kalika Purana]].<ref name="Guha 1984 75"/> The accounts in these [[Hindu text]]s conflict with each other,<ref>"The latter phase of Assam's history based on traditional accounts and the pauranic and epic sources, is conflicting, till we come to the time of Pushyavarman", {{harv|Puri|1968|p=8}}</ref> but the Kamarupa dynasties claimed ancestries going back thousands of years. It is supposed that bands of Indo-Aryan people moved from [[Magadha]] to the forested regions of the Brahmaputra valley; the leaders of these bands are remembered in later myths as Parashurama, Bashishtha and [[Narakasura|Naraka]].<ref>{{harv|Guha|1984|p=76}}</ref> The [[Kalika Purana]] reports that Naraka displaced an indigenous [[Danava dynasty]]. Modern historians through consider story of Naraka as a fabrication for the legitimisation of later Kamarupa kings.<ref>"It was, according to Hazra, the Puranic Vaiṣṇava who first tried to bring the non-Aryan inhabitants of Kāmarūpa into their fold by giving it out to be originally a place of Viṣṇu-worship and Vaiṣṇava āgamas and also by fabricating a story that Naraka was born of the Earth by Viṣṇu in his boar incarnation. Moreover, the Varmans integrated Naraka, Bhagadatta and Vajradatta into an imagined unilineal lineage, thereby conferring a new temporal dimension on their history"{{harvcol|Shin|2018|p=32}}</ref>

==Sanskritisation under the Kamarupa kings==
{{Cquote
| quote = In his Nidhanpur copper-plate inscription Bhaskar Varman is said to have revealed the light of the Arya religion (prakasit aryadharmaloka) by dispelling the accumulated darkness of Kali Yuga.
| source = Kanaklal Barua, Early History of Kamarupa (1933)
| float = left
| bgcolor =
| qcolor = Purple
}}

In the historic period, the Kamarupa kings encouraged immigration from North India, and settled Brahmins as "islands of private domains in a sea of communally held tribal lands of shifting cultivation".<ref name="Guha 1984 75" /> One such settlement was [[Habung]], where Ratnapal of the [[Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)|Pala dynasty]] of [[Kamarupa]] settled Brahmins in c. the 10th century, then known as ''Ha-Vrnga Vishaya''.<ref>{{harv|Guha|1983|p=33|f=31}}</ref>

Though traditional accounts claim that the kings of Assam were Indo-Aryan, modern scholarship is not clear.<ref>Suresh Kant Sharma, Usha Sharma, ''Discovery of North-East India: Geography, History, Culture, ... - Volume 3'', 2005, Page 275 first Indo-Aryan rule favourable to Brahmanism was founded in Kamarupa with Pusyavarman as the first ruler under Samudragupta</ref><ref>"Virtually all of Assam’s kings, from the fourth-century Varmans down to the eighteenth-century Ahoms, came from non-Aryan tribes that were only gradually Sanskritised." {{harv|Urban|2011|p=234}}</ref>
Sanskritization, was a process that occurred simultaneously with "deshification" (or localisation, or tribalisation) in Assam.<ref>"Here I will follow the lead of Wendy Doniger, who suggests that the development of Hinduism as a whole in South Asia was not simply a process of [[Sanskritisation]], that is, the absorption of non-Hindu traditions into the brahminic system; rather, it also involved a process of ‘Deshification’, that is, the influence of local (deshi) and indigenous cultures on brahmaic religion and the mutual interaction between Sanskritic and deshi traditions." {{harv|Urban|2011|p=233}}</ref>

From epigraphic records, so far brought to light, it is possible to trace an almost unbroken genealogy of these kings from about the middle of the 4th century CE down to the 12th century or a period of nearly nine hundred years. Very few of the old Hindu kingdoms in [[India]] can present such unique genealogical records covering such a long period. No less than twelve copperplate inscriptions, inscribed seals and rock-inscriptions recorded by various kings of Kamarupa during this period have been discovered and deciphered. Epigraphic records left by the famous [[Gupta]] emperor [[Samudra Gupta]], [[Yasodharman]], king of [[Malwa]], who was a famous conqueror, Adityasena, who belonged to the line of [[Later Guptas]] of Magadha, Jayadeva, a well-known king of [[Nepal]] and some of the Pala kings and Sena kings of Bengal provide useful material for the history of Kamarupa during this period. Other materials include Raghuvaugsa of Kalidasa, the Chinese writers, the Harsha-Charita of Banabhatta, the Raja-tarangini of Kahlan, and translations from Tibetan records.<ref name=Early_History_of_Kamarupa,p.I />

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Kingship and Worship of Goddess<ref>{{harvcol|Urban|2009}}</ref>
|-
! King
! Great deed
! Sin or fault
! Punishment
! Brahmanical vs. Tribal tension
|-
| Naraka
| Found kingdom of Kamarupa and Worship Kamakhya
| Make pact with tribal king
| Goddess hidden from him
| Pact with tribal king
|-
| Bana (or Naraka)
| Builds stairway to kamakhya temple
| Demands vision of the goddess
| Goddess hidden from him
| Demonic tribal king
|-
| Salastambha
| Conquest of Kamarupa
| Unknown
| Cursed to be mleccha
| Founds mleccha dynasty
|-
| Visva Singha
| Rediscover Kamakhya temple
| Mother offends holy man
| Mother is a mleccha
| War against tribal kings, child of god and a mleccha
|-
| Naranarayana Singha
| Rebuild the temple
| Demands a vision of goddess
| Descendents can't visit the temple
| Defeats tribal kings but allowed soldier to worship in tribal mode
|-
| Rudra Singha
| Patronize brahmins and build temples
| Tribal origin, offends priest
| Dies without receiving initiation
| Non-Hindu tribal origin
|}

==Modern Assamese language==

The modern [[Assamese language]] is the easternmost [[Indo-Aryan language]], spoken by over 15 million native speakers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm |title=Statement |publisher=censusindia.gov.in |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206233628/http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm |archive-date=6 February 2012 }}</ref> It also serves as a ''lingua franca'' in the region.<ref>"Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|pp=394}}</ref> With closely related languages it is also spoken in parts of [[Arunachal Pradesh]] and other [[North-East India|northeast]] Indian states.

==See also==
* [[Tibeto-Burman migration to Indian subcontinent]]
*[[Varman dynasty|Varman Dynasty]]
* [[Pala dynasty (Kamarupa)|Pala Dynasty]]
* [[Indo-Aryan migration theories]]
* [[Indo-Aryan superstrate in Mitanni]]
* [[Sanskrit]]
* [[Aryan]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Baruah |first1=Nirode |year=2008 |title=Sanskritization and Detribalization in Early Assam: Some Geographical Aspects |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=69 |pages=167–179 |publisher=Indian History Congress|jstor=44147178}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Das |first1=Paromita |year=2005 |title=The Naraka Legends, Aryanisation and the "varnasramadharma" in the Brahmaputra Valley |journal= Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=66 |pages=224–230 |publisher= Indian History Congress |jstor=44145840}}
*{{cite journal |last1=DeLancey |first1=Scott |editor3-first=Mark |editor3-last=w. Post |editor2-first=Stephen |editor2-last=Morey |editor1-first=Gwendolyn |editor1-last=Hyslop |year=2012 |title=On the Origin of Bodo-Garo |journal=Northeast Indian Linguistics |volume=4 |pages=3–20 |doi=10.1017/UPO9789382264521.003 |isbn=9789382264521 }}
* {{cite book |title=The great Indian corridor in the east |last=Deka |first=Phani |year=2007 |publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=404}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Guha |first1=Amalendu |year=1983 |title=The Ahom Political System: An Enquiry into the State Formation Process in Medieval Assam |journal=Social Scientist |volume=11 |issue=12 |pages=3–34 |doi= 10.2307/3516963|jstor=3516963|url=https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/123456789/3259/1/OP_64_The_ahom_political_system.pdf }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Guha |first1=Amalendu |year=1984 |title=Pre-Ahom Roots and the Medieval State in Assam: A Reply |journal=Social Scientist |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=70–77 |doi= 10.2307/3517005|jstor=3517005}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lahiri |first1=Nayanjot |year=1990 |title=Landholding and Peasantry in the Brahmaputra Valley C. 5th-13th Centuries A.D. |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=157–168 |publisher= Brill |jstor=3632226}}
* {{Citation |last=Moral |first=Dipankar |year=1997 |title=North-East India as a Linguistic Area |journal=Mon-Khmer Studies |volume=27 |pages=43–53 |url=http://sealang.net/sala/archives/pdf8/moral1997north.pdf
}}
* {{cite book |title=Assam's history and its graphics |last=Pathak |first=Guptajit |year=2008 |publisher=Mittal Publications|pages=211}}
* {{cite book |last=Puri |first=Baij Nath |title=Studies in Early History and Administration in Assam |publisher=Gauhati University |year = 1968}}
* {{cite book |title=Readings in the history & culture of Assam |last=Samiti |first=Kamarupa Anusandhana |year=1984 |publisher=Kamrupa Anusandhana Samiti|pages=227}}
* {{cite book |last= Sharma |first=Mukunda Madhava |title=Inscriptions of Ancient Assam |publisher=[[Gauhati University]] |year=1978 |location=Guwahati, Assam}}
* {{Citation |last=Sircar |first=D C |contribution=Pragjyotisha-Kamarupa |year=1990 |title=The Comprehensive History of Assam |editor-last=Barpujari |editor-first=H K |volume=I |pages=59–78 |place=Guwahati |publisher=Publication Board, Assam }}
*{{Citation| last = Sircar| first = D C| contribution = Political History| year = 1990b| title = The Comprehensive History of Assam| editor-last = Barpujari| editor-first = H K| volume = I| pages = 94–171| place = Guwahati| publisher = Publication Board, Assam}}
* {{Citation |last=Taher |first=M |chapter=Assam: An Introduction |year=2001 |title=Geography of Assam |editor-last=Bhagawati |editor-first=A K |pages=1–17 |place=New Delhi |publisher=Rajesh Publications }}
* {{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wg6MDwAAQBAJ|last=Urban|first=Hugh |title=The Power of Tantra: Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2009|isbn=9780857715869}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Urban |first1=Hugh B. |year=2011 |title=The Womb of Tantra: Goddesses, Tribals, and Kings in Assam |journal=The Journal of Hindu Studies |volume=4 |issue= 3|pages=231–247 |doi=10.1093/jhs/hir034 }}
* {{Citation| last = Shin| first = Jae-Eun| contribution = Region Formed and Imagined: Reconsidering temporal, spatial and social context of Kamarupa| year = 2018| title = Modern Practices in North East India: History, Culture, Representation| editor-last = Dzüvichü| editor-first = Lipokmar |editor2-last=Baruah |editor2-first=Manjeet| place = London & New York| publisher = Routledge}}
{{refend}}

[[Category:Indo-Aryan peoples]]
[[Category:History of Assam]]

Indo-Aryan migration to Assam - Revision history

>Chaipau: /* Introduction of Indo-Aryan */ written in Sanskrit